We really need to know your approx. balance/rate & whether you’re currently paying MIP or PMI (two forms of mortgage insurance) to really help you.
If your current rate was 5% & 15 year rates are 5%, you don’t benefit anything by refinancing due to the costs. You’d be better to make extra payments. Find a calculator online, put in your balance, rate & 15 years; it will spit out the appropriate P&I payment you should make. Compare that to your current P&I amount on your bill. Add the difference to your monthly payment & make sure they apply it to the principal. In rare cases, some servicing companies may play games with the extra payment and apply it to future payments or toward your taxes/insurance if you have those impounded.
If the current rates are lower, you need to weigh the cost vs. the benefit.
If you could get ¼–½% lower or more on a no cost loan, really any improvement on a rate with no cost would make sense. You would just have to decide if it was worth your time/trouble. I’ve seen people scoff at the idea of refinancing when they can save $200/mo. on their payments and some that jump up and down if they can save $30/mo.
Generally, the higher your balance, the less the rate needs to drop to make the refinance option better. Saving ½% on a $600K loan cuts the interest almost $3000 the first year….so if fees were $3–4K; this would make sense. Saving 2% on a $50K loan would save you less than $1k/ interest the first year…so if the cost is $3–4k it’s probably not worth it.
I’d be happy to help you further if you want to email me the details. johnp at milestonemtg dot com